Gamechanger question of sorts..

[koogie2k]

I was talking to a friend of mine about the gamechanger. Showed him the site and did my best of describing it to him and how it works. He was interested and we talked about the different tonal opportunities and what not.

He then stated "So, the body and neck can be manufactured with any kind of wood. Better yet...composite material? Since the gamechanger will give you any tone you want by downloading it."

I get what he is saying and can agree to a point. Still, does the body and neck material (wood or composite) really matter when the gamechanger is involved?

I think it does. He was not so sure. Some insight please. Thanks.

 

[threeminutesboy]

Koogie as far as I understand, the GC only offer wiring option so the wood is still a big part of the final sound

Means a GC in basswood will have different sound than a mahogany GC

 

[beej]

That's right- it looks like the GC is really a switching platform.

So far what we're seeing is the ability to pick any combination of pickups without the need to physically re-wire. You can imagine what else could be done down the line- switching different pots, capacitors, what have you. Since the switching is digital, the possibility has been suggested that the switch on your guitar could be used to control outboard settings via MIDI. Or vice versa- switch your pickup wiring from an external signal.

That said, none of this changes the physics of the guitar. The bridge, woods, scale length, etc. all play their role in shaping your tone. To go beyond that, you'd need something like the Variax, which models the physical attributes of different guitars.

 

[threeminutesboy]

and again the GC is not a modeling device, this is the most "natural" electronic device

No simulation or modeling at all

 

[JMD]

I freaking love the idea of switching presets (amp channel, effects, volume, gain and my pick-up configuration) on the fly. For you electronic guys it's very PLC inspired...which itself is not new. Why didn't anyone think of this earlier?!!? Saving for it now.

 

[Astrofreq]

My understanding is that everything is analog, so the wood still totally affects the tone.